R
Red Scream
Guest
Saxat från en provning med Doug för drygt fyra år sedan...
A sweet wine?
Finally dessert. We are served a lovely rhubarb dish, and all I can think of is the oncoming spring. Being fond of sweet wines, I cannot but ask, “how about a sweet wine?” Doug replies that in fact, he does make a sweet wine, not included in the tasting though.
“I do make a sweet wine. A port. Ah, that’s another story! Back in 1986 I said, ‘hey, let’s do some fun this year! Hey, let’s make some port! We’ll make some port and we won’t tell dad.’ So we took some grapes from a vineyard which is called Sunspot, which is the building block of Hillside select. Port’s really easy to make. Boom, you’re done.
“I walked into his office and said, Dad, I want you to try something. Young port. Whats that? Dad, we’re making port! He goes: really? What grapes did you use? Sunspot! The vineyards he planted. He looked at me and said: ‘You took 300 gallons of my cabernet and you did this to it?’ Ouch! My next thought was, he’s gonna yell!”
But he did not. Instead, he asked Doug for production notes, marketing plan, how it will fit in the line with the other wines, etc. In other words, he got the polite version of “right back at ya!” Doug had to return to his co-conspirer Elias and hand over the bad news: “We’re in trouble – hide the port!”
The port was tucked away, not mentioned for four years. Then it needed to be bottled. Doug had to go back to his dad and give him the bad news a second time, that the previous stolen cab now had to be bottled. John Shafer just said, “just bottle it and get rid of it. No label, no cap. Just cork. Give it away.” So after bottling, there were a lot of “Merry Christmas, have some port! To the plumber, Merry Christmas, have some port! Mailman, merry Christmas, have some port!”
Somehow though, it got itself into a restaurant, and Doug was asked how much there was. “I tell the story, it picks up speed, and people start writing letters to my dad, ‘Dear Mr. Shafer…’ But still no, no. Then we’re sitting dinner one night, 1991, brother-in-law, who is a winemaker, they’re drinking some of this port, after dinner. Joe goes to my dad, hey, this is pretty good! And dad goes, you think so? Yes! You could sell this 90 bucks! Next day, dad goes, label the port!
I ask Doug if the grapes used for the port still come from the Sunspot vineyard, expecting a “no.” But yes – they still do! Shafer port, or Firebreak as it is called, is still made from the best grapes. Doug exclaims, “always great fruit year in and year out!”
A sweet wine?
Finally dessert. We are served a lovely rhubarb dish, and all I can think of is the oncoming spring. Being fond of sweet wines, I cannot but ask, “how about a sweet wine?” Doug replies that in fact, he does make a sweet wine, not included in the tasting though.
“I do make a sweet wine. A port. Ah, that’s another story! Back in 1986 I said, ‘hey, let’s do some fun this year! Hey, let’s make some port! We’ll make some port and we won’t tell dad.’ So we took some grapes from a vineyard which is called Sunspot, which is the building block of Hillside select. Port’s really easy to make. Boom, you’re done.
“I walked into his office and said, Dad, I want you to try something. Young port. Whats that? Dad, we’re making port! He goes: really? What grapes did you use? Sunspot! The vineyards he planted. He looked at me and said: ‘You took 300 gallons of my cabernet and you did this to it?’ Ouch! My next thought was, he’s gonna yell!”
But he did not. Instead, he asked Doug for production notes, marketing plan, how it will fit in the line with the other wines, etc. In other words, he got the polite version of “right back at ya!” Doug had to return to his co-conspirer Elias and hand over the bad news: “We’re in trouble – hide the port!”
The port was tucked away, not mentioned for four years. Then it needed to be bottled. Doug had to go back to his dad and give him the bad news a second time, that the previous stolen cab now had to be bottled. John Shafer just said, “just bottle it and get rid of it. No label, no cap. Just cork. Give it away.” So after bottling, there were a lot of “Merry Christmas, have some port! To the plumber, Merry Christmas, have some port! Mailman, merry Christmas, have some port!”
Somehow though, it got itself into a restaurant, and Doug was asked how much there was. “I tell the story, it picks up speed, and people start writing letters to my dad, ‘Dear Mr. Shafer…’ But still no, no. Then we’re sitting dinner one night, 1991, brother-in-law, who is a winemaker, they’re drinking some of this port, after dinner. Joe goes to my dad, hey, this is pretty good! And dad goes, you think so? Yes! You could sell this 90 bucks! Next day, dad goes, label the port!
I ask Doug if the grapes used for the port still come from the Sunspot vineyard, expecting a “no.” But yes – they still do! Shafer port, or Firebreak as it is called, is still made from the best grapes. Doug exclaims, “always great fruit year in and year out!”
